Beyond the Lake by Carlos Folgoso Sueiro

Tony brought nuts home, claiming Rosemary gave them to him, though she existed only in his dreams. Adolf and Raúl lost their home to arson over land disputes. María, an emigrant, left her son Emilio in Galicia; years later, Emilio succumbed to alcoholism, a widespread issue in rural Galicia. Sabucedo’s wild horses face shrinking roaming space due to eucalyptus plantations and rural abandonment. The village of Aceredo, submerged by the Lindoso reservoir in 1992, reemerges during droughts, symbolising Galicia’s struggles. Once a climatic refuge, the extreme weather now faced by Galicia in northwest Spain is depleting its reservoirs and weakening its ecosystems. Severe drought has revealed villages that were once submerged below the surface of reservoirs, while eucalyptus plantations reduce biodiversity, intensify wildfires and limit the space available for the region’s wild horse population. As residents abandon the land, Beyond the Lake explores the pressures that endanger Galicia’s future.